Total Anthocyanin Content, Total Phenolic Content, and Antioxidant Activity of Various Blueberry Cultivars Grown in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

More than fifty cultivated varieties of blueberries are grown under the same processing conditions on farm at Chiba Prefectural Agricultural College in Japan. The fruits from 51 blueberry cultivars, including 16 rabbiteye (RE) cultivars (Vaccinium ashei Reade) and 35 highbush (HB) corybosum L.), were evaluated for total anthocyanin contents, phenolic their contribution to antioxidant activity among cultivars. Total contents varied 0.74±0.21 (“Barkley”) 4.27±0.18 (“Suwannee”) mg as cyanidin-3-glucoside (Cy-3-GC) equivalent/g fresh-weight (fw), with range 0.77±0.14 (“Floridablue”) 3.69±0.89 gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g fw, which strongly correlated activities assessed using DPPH ORAC methods, respectively. both significantly higher (p<0.05) RE HB blueberries. Furthermore, values family (p<0.01). In comparisons two species, major anthocyanidin identified malvidin delphinidin This result suggests that some blueberries, especially “Suwannee,” “Homebell” “Climax,” suitable supply sources high vitro capacity. study would be helpful quality-oriented cultivation blueberry.